Robert Novak, Garden Troll

I just finished reading the David Margolick profile of Robert Novak in this month's Vanity Fair, and want to share some of the sweeter quotes. For those who might think that I have descended to typical blogger type behavior: bottom feeding by relying on someone else's original work, trafficking in gossip, and focusing on the buzz of the moment... please consider the following exculpatory points: I picked up the magazine grocery shopping. For all I know, or care for that matter, the magazine might have been on the news stand for a couple of weeks . No real blogger writes about anything more than two hours old, let alone, say two weeks old.

Finally... back to the purpose of this post: The choice quotes about Robert Novak from the Vanity Fair article. See what happens when you have no editors? No editor would have allowed me to digress or free associate or whatever that just was....

Michael Kinsley: "Underneath the asshole is a nice guy, but underneath the nice guy is another asshole."

David Brock: "You could count on him to step up to the plate and not check too much." Brock was making reference to Novak's pimping (oops! very blogger-like conduct there; I am going to later change the phrase "pimping" to "promoting".) Brock's infamous "Troopergate" expose in the American Spectator, which Brock later recanted, before recanting a second time, before apologizing while recanting a third time, and before making an entire career out his various recantations and apologies.

Bill Moyers, regrding his dealings with Novak, when Moyers was a shill (oops!, again. Such blogger-like behavior! I will change the word "shill" to "spokesperson" later.) for Lyndon Johnson: "Novak was a very intrepid, dogged, mainstream reporter, not this sinister, egomaniacal figure he is now."

Bill Moyers, explaining Novak's subsequent transformation: "Every monster begins as a baby in a crib."

Jack Germond: What Novak considers a "secret meeting" in writing his column, is often times regarded by others, most notably the participants themselves, as "a meeting nobody gives a shit about."

An anonymous source, who witnessed Novak attempt to punch out a heckler on the set of his CNN show at the Merrimack Diner in Manchester, New Hampshire, during last year's presidential primary: "Novak looked like a caged animal, fists locked and cocked back, like a garden troll gone insane."

Bob Novak on Bob Novak: "Why does everyone take such an instant dislike to me?"